Couple hacked to death by bride’s Muslim family

A young couple murdered in Pakistan barely a week after they had married for love were killed as a warning to other girls not to marry without the permission of their parents, according to witnesses.

Residents of Satrah, Punjab, said relatives of the bride slit their throats and forced children to watch as they bled to death.

A string of similar murders has provoked revulsion around the world and promises of action inside Pakistan. But the nature of the latest deaths is savage even by the warped yardstick of the country’s grisly honour killings.

Local police said they had arrested five people in connection with the murder of Sajjad Ahmed, 31, and Muafia Bibi, 17, including the bride’s father and grandfather.

Muhammad Pervaiz, the local police chief, said: “It is a case of honour killing. The couple were not beheaded but were killed with the knives and had severe signs of torture on their heads.” — Telegraph